As with most Wes Anderson films, the cast list reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. Yet his latest, The French Dispatch is a surprisingly disappointing hotch-potch of short story narratives.
Under editor-in-chief Arthur Howitzer Jr (Bill Murray – Lost in Translation, Ghostbusters), The French Dispatch is an outpost of a Kansas newspaper that provides stories of Europe to its American readers. But its time for the final issue. Bringing together loyal journalists and staff members, complex narration with Anderson’s trademark whimsy and nostalgic sadness all encased in a stage set design follows. Tales of mundane and extreme, all are dull and uninvolving – whether it’s the institutionalised artist (Benico Del Toro) discovered by Parisian galleryist (Adrien Brody), the 1968-style student demonstrations with Timothée Chalamet as a student rebel or the dispassionate writer Jeffrey Wright reflecting on an earlier article.
There’s no question The French Dispatch remains an intelligent, visual quirky delight – but the substance and authenticity of character is lost as the likes of Tilda Swinton and Elisabeth Moss are seen for minutes whilst Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, Christoph Waltz and more for even less. The sum of its individual parts, sadly, do not add up.
Rating: 50%
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